Waters

Lough Melvin

Baseline tactics

Co. Leitrim (IE) / Fermanagh (NI) — cross-border · Lough · wild · 2.1k ha

Yellow warninguntil Fri 02:00

Rain warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Waterford

Spells of heavy rain with a possibility of thunderstorms. Potential impacts: • Localised flooding • Outdoor events impacted • Difficult travelling conditions

Met Éireann

Yellow warninguntil Sun 21:00

Blight advisory for Ireland

A potato blight advisory is in effect. For details, please see the Farming commentary under the Forecast tab.

Met Éireann

Weather check

Issued 18:00

Light north-easterly6 km/h · gusting 13 km/hBlowing onto the south-west shore · rippleGusty — hard casting.

Today — conditions every three hours
Time	Sky	Wind	Air	Rain
04:00	cloud	ESE 3 km/h	14 °C	dry
06:00	cloud	SE 5 km/h	15 °C	dry
08:00	cloud	E 9 km/h	16 °C	dry
10:00	cloud	E 14 km/h	18 °C	dry
12:00	sun and cloud	E 12 km/h	20 °C	dry
14:00	cloud	ESE 11 km/h	21 °C	dry
16:00	sun	ENE 8 km/h	21 °C	dry
18:00	sun	NE 6 km/h	21 °C	dry
20:00	cloud	ESE 3 km/h	18 °C	dry

Times are UTC · wind in km/h · sun and rain read left to right across the day.

Air: 14–21°
Wind: 14 km/h
Rain: Dry

Water

measured

Hot 21 °C

Too warm to fight a fish safely — come back when it cools.

Measured at Lareen on the water · OPW

Ripple on the forecast.

Today · Lough Melvin

Too warm to fish kindly — best to rest the water today.

Water · Hot (19°C and up)

Fishability is the engine's own hourly score. Why these conditions matter.

Compare the week

This week

Dawn

Morn

Midday

Eve

Dusk

Today

Tmrw

Sat

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

ExcellentGoodFairPoor★ best of the day

Check season dates with the fishery (link below).

Where & when — all waters ›Pack for this trip — Kit Check ›

Depth character (estimated)

Mixed depths · to ~45 m

Water clarity (estimated)

Clear

Exposure (estimated)

Moderate

Species

Brown trout →Gillaroo →Sonaghan →Ferox →Arctic char →Atlantic salmon →

Getting there

Bank access: LimitedThere are several public jetties, but the lake's species mix and the open-water sonaghan game make Melvin predominantly a boat fishery. Rossinver Bay's controlled fly-only water gives the clearest shore-associated tactical focus.

Boats available

Kinlough Pier · Pier
Garrison slipway · Slipway

13 more unverified piers, slipways and car parks on the map (OpenStreetMap).

Features

Drop offsShoalsBaysIslandsRocky shorelinePointsRiver mouths

Weed: LightMelvin is an oligo-mesotrophic, peat-stained lake and not a classic heavy-weed fishery. Structure and depth gradients matter more than weed, though shallower bay and island margins are important.

Coarse fry present (Perch, Brown trout)

Local notes

Rossinver Bay and the Garrison/Breffni side are the main repeat-access fly-fishing centres; Rossinver Fishery explicitly maintains a fly-only section in Rossinver Bay. Melvin is not one uniform trout lake: ordinary browns are more bay-oriented, sonaghan are deep/open-water roamers, and gillaroo track benthic feeding zones. Best-attested condition pattern is that bright high sun makes sonaghan harder by pushing their food deeper over open water, while a breeze improving the drift helps both bay fishing and open-water wet-fly work.

Fishery rules & regulations

Fish here now